How Ali Wong Became the Current Queen of Comedy
Directed by the duo's Fresh Off the Boat showrunner Nahnatchka Khan, the movie centers around Wong's character Sasha Tran, a renowned celebrity chef, who briefly moves back to her hometown of San Francisco to oversee the opening of her new restaurant after breaking off her engagement. While home, she has a chance encounter with her childhood best friend and crush, Park's Marcus Kim, with whom she had a falling out with after they hooked up in high school.
After a hilarious midpoint where Tran brings a date—being Keanu Reeves playing himself—Kim and Tran fall back in love, interrupted by Kim's surprise when Tran still moves back to New York to continue her restaurant empire.
At the end of the film (spoiler!), Kim shows up to Tran's red-carpet restaurant opening and puts her career before his, saying he just wants to be wherever she is and asks, "Can I hold your purse for you?"
It's a delightful installment to the returning rom-com boom that turns the genre on its head. Like Wong, Tran is successful and her career's demands means a relationship will only work if her partner respects her lifestyle as much as she does.
The film is also inherently political, joining the PCAs-nominated Long Shot among romance movies where the career-driven woman isn't painted as someone who needs to slow down to find love, but instead as someone who needs a partner who is willing to support her ambition.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7prvNpaCnnV6YvK57zZ6urGdhZYV4hZhxZqGnp2KurbWMsKann12XsqStzJ5kraCVYrC2vtGepa1loaqyprqMqJ1mm5%2BisqXF